Engage Patients: 16 Creative Healthcare Strategies

Hospitals can go beyond Meaningful Use requirements to make patients happier and healthier and the bottom line better. Consider these ideas.

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Reduce no-shows

After installing Patient Prompt, Cardiovascular Institute of the South reduced no-show appointments by 25%, said administrator Hailey Fontenac. The appointment reminder software, compatible with most practice management and EHR systems, contacts patients via text, email, or voice and quickly updates the scheduling system based on patients' comments. As a result, service improves; patients whose appointments had been scheduled for a later date can be moved up, and staff doesn't wait for no-shows to appear.

My family recently had an experience that was the opposite of what many healthcare providers are now focusing on. Having heard our daughter might need a minimal procedure we were anxious to schedule it, yet the person responsible for scheduling did not return my phone calls for four days. When she finally called back, I overheard her say "Now I have to deal with this one." Between that comment and her brusque manner, our faith in the doctor was negated by unease in his staff -- the team we no doubt would be in touch with post-procedure. We'd already scheduled a second opinion. That doctor is now in charge of our daughter's care and I shared our experience with the first doctor's staff on several physician-grading sites. (He is terrific but that last experience with his staff was the pinnacle of a pattern of ongoing rudeness.)

It's sad that physicians spend so much time and money to become doctors and set up practices, only to have their reputations destroyed by rude staff that demonstrate their lack of caring for patients. In that way alone healthcare providers start on the path to engaging patients.

It's true, Thomas. That said, patient engagement solutions give practices new ways to differentiate themselves further from other local facilities. Bringing comfort, control, or convenience typically benefit the provider and the patient, so both parties win.

@Thomas, @Alison I couldn't agree more, and today, when we have access to a lot more information, including online reviews, we can check for certain qualities in the doctor that are important to us before scheduling an appointment. Still, I find that doctors fail to value their patients' time and really wish this were a reality:

That cartoon rings so true for me. Without fail, I wait at least a half hour past my appointment time at my doctor's office every time. If I didn't like my doctor as much as I do, I'd never tolerate it.